Do I have to repay a gift?

[Buzpro]

Our Mother in Law gave us a financial gift eight years ago. We used this gift to help purchase our first home. Now she wants the gift back, there was no agreement signed, no contract, no I.O.U.,etc. Do we have to pay it back?

 

[loku]

Gift

If it was truly a gift, then you have no obligation to return it. Once a gift is delivered it becomes the property of the donee. If she told you it was meant as a gift, then it is legally a gift. If nothing at all was said, then it depends on what reasonable people in the circumstances would believe.

The fact that there is no paper on this is evidence that it is probably a gift. However, it does depend on the understanding at the time of the “gift.”